


Not Injured Again, Harry

by IHealRages



Series: Seasons of Love [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dates in Hogsmeade, Established Relationship, Fluff, Harry trying to be romantic, Healer Draco, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Job Hunting is stressful, M/M, Severus is alive and snarky, Teacher Harry, Worries over getting a job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:17:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHealRages/pseuds/IHealRages
Summary: A continuation of my last one shot, but it can be read alone too. Snape is alive in this series, just because.Harry and Draco are both feeling the job hunting stress. For very different reasons. But can this couple ever do anything by normal standards? And doesn't Hogwarts always hold the answers in the end, although it seems the castle entertains it's fair share of drama getting even the eldest students from where they are to where they want to be. Draco may become a very sassy healer someday, and Harry just wants to know what the hell he's doing with his life.





	Not Injured Again, Harry

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite as comedic as the last oneshot, and not quite as crack either. Severus doesn't feature as much sadly. But it's more fluffy. I really just wanted to do more cute Drarry being boyfriends. And the topic of jobs and applications relates to my life a lot right now as I just finished University.

 

“-It has been so painfully boring, you have no idea.” Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair and making it slightly fluffy.

Harry smiled, finding his boyfriend’s irritation pretty cute. “I haven’t actually started any yet,” he said.

Draco rolled his eyes at him. “Well you should start soon!” he said. “The end of year exams are coming up, and besides if you want to become an auror with the Ministry you probably only need to write ‘I Am Harry Potter’ on the application form and they’ll take you.”

Harry laughed and shook his head at the notion.

Draco frowned and continued. “Unlike me, St Mungo’s won’t take me due to my family’s participation in the war, and there aren’t a lot of other healing apprenticeships here in the UK.” He fiddled with the plastic wrapping on the bouquet of flowers Harry had given him that morning. “I could always apprentice in a different country but…”

Harry took his hand supportively. “I’m sure you’ll find somewhere, and even if you’re far away for the apprenticeship you can come back here when you get your license,” he said. “And then everyone’ll question you day and night on why a Malfoy became a healer.” He smirked.

Draco sighed, running his thumb over Harry’s knuckles. “Well who else is going to look after you, scarhead? Even now you’re in the hospital wing every month. I’m surprised you even want to be an auror at this point.”

Harry frowned. He had a point, but... it’s what his father did, and Ron’s doing it too, so... “Well, I looked at the auror application form but I don’t really know what to write.” He saw Draco smirk. “No Draco, I’m not writing, ‘I’m Harry Potter hire me.’”

“It would work,” Draco chirped.

Harry took a sip of butterbeer and hummed. “I guess I could start it tonight, I think Ron’s filling out his application form tonight too… and Hermione’s filled out loads.”

Draco snorted. “Granger would.”

Harry smiled.

“Draco!! Harry!!” Pansy called, charging towards their table. “You’re such a cute couple! WHY ARE ALL THE CUTE ONES TAKEN?!”

Blaise followed her. “Ahem.” He looked at her.

Pansy side eyed him. “Eh, you’re not romantic enough,” she deadpanned.

Blaise gasped in mock offence.

Harry decided to interrupt them before this could go any further. “Hey Pansy, what brings you two to Hogsmeade?”

“Pansy said shopping was the only way she could destress from studying,” Blaise replied.

“Well stop interrupting our date,” Draco huffed. “Go find your own partner!”

“I’m trying!!” whined Pansy.

Harry smiled. “We were just talking about job applications.”

Pansy scooted Draco over to sit next to him at the table. “I’ve just sent applications to Madam Malkins and Twillfitt and Tatting’s but I haven’t heard back yet!”

“Stop interrupting my date.” Draco huffed, trying to push her away from their table.

Harry laughed. “I guess I should hurry up and send my own applications then.”

“Well exams are in two weeks, and we have to compete with the seventh year students too!” Pansy huffed. “You haven’t sent any out yet?”

Harry hummed thoughtfully. “I’m more than prepared for the exams, but jobs just seem so… far away,” he said.

Draco was giving him a very huffy pureblood look that meant, ‘stop speaking to people that aren’t me.’

“I think me and Draco are going to go to Honeydukes before we go back to Hogwarts,” Harry continued, “so we’ll see you guys later.”

Pansy glared at Draco. “You may be escaping me now but I will find you.”

Draco waved her off nonchalantly and got up to follow Harry out.

“Be nice to your friends.” Harry smiled, taking his hand as they walked.

Draco scoffed. “They only do things to annoy me. I will be nothing more than civil with them.”

“It’s fun to annoy you though, Dray, you go all pouty,” Harry teased.

Draco glared at him.

“For that Potter, I’m not giving you anything more than hand holding for the next week!”

Harry smiled. “You say that now but I know you’ll change your mind.”

Draco growled and dragged him into Honeydukes. “Buy me sugar quills, Potter.”

“Yes dear,” Harry agreed.

They spent 20 minutes in Honeydukes before heading back towards the school. Draco was happily eating an assortment of sweets. Something Harry had learned from dating him for a few months, Draco had a very sweet tooth. Cissa still sent him home baked cookies and muffins every now and then too, with little notes telling him to share some with Harry.

“Happy?” he asked.

Draco nodded.

Harry wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s waist and tried to contain his grin. Draco was adorable. Even when he was being snarky and attempting to be intimidating. Which he really wasn’t anymore considering everyone knew that he was a drama queen and he didn’t go around bullying people with Slytherins flanking him all the time anymore.

He mostly just insulted Gryffindors and tried to stop Pansy from interfering with their love life.

They walked back to the Slytherin dorm rooms and Harry kissed Draco goodnight before leaving for his own common room.

Ugh, job applications.

He entered the common room, went upstairs to search for the job application somewhere on his desk then headed back to flop down next to Ron.

“You alright?” Ron asked.

Harry nodded. “Need to fill out auror application,” he mumbled.

Ron sighed. “Yeah... Same. Hermione keeps telling me to use different vocabulary and I’m like, why?”

“I guess interviewers need to see that your passionate about it, or something,” Harry said.

Ron nodded. “But we’ve been doing this for years already. And like, this is only the first application to see if they’ll even consider you. After that there is an interview, and a character test and an aptitude test, then a practical exam with other aurors, then another interview before you can even be offered the job… It’s ridiculous. We ended the war, we should have free tickets to being aurors right?” Ron groaned.

Harry nodded. “Well they are relaxing it a bit since they lost so many aurors in the war. They’ll probably accept people who fought in the war after just a few interviews instead of the whole process…”

He smoothed the paper out and looked at it. He’d scrawled ‘Harry Potter’ in the name box a few weeks ago. He looked at the qualifications part and hastily put the grades for his O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts.

Right, good start. He looked at the next question. ‘Why do you wish to apply for this position? (List examples of qualifications, skills and abilities.)’

Harry looked at it.

He glanced over at Ron’s paper which had listed a number of things they’d done during their final year of horcrux hunting...

He looked back at his paper.

‘I killed Voldemort’ he began to write, then changed his mind and vanished the ink.

He looked at it again.

Why do I want this job? He thought. Well I’ve fought Dark Wizards my whole life and I can’t imagine doing anything else. And both Dad and Sirius were aurors… besides, I have the skills for it, considering.

He started to write: I want to apply for this job to follow in my family's footsteps and continue to help people in the only way I know how. My skills are in defence against the dark arts, I killed Voldemort….

He crossed that last part out.

During the war I fought many dark wizards, death eaters and Voldemort and used my knowledge and skills to come out (mostly) unscathed.

He hummed, that would have to do, he thought.

Next question. ‘Please write an occasion that shows skills you think are necessary to become an auror. Why did you intervene? Why do you think this occasion shows your abilities?’

Harry groaned and rocked back in his chair. I killed Voldemort, why? To save the wizarding world??? Abilities? Lying about being dead and jumping up at the last second to save everyone???

He passed on that question. Maybe he’d come back to it later.

-

It took him nearly 3 hours to get through the whole thing, and there were sections for employment, references from teachers, any previous criminal record… which was a bit awkward for Harry since he’d been the No.1 Undesirable for a while… and there was the whole mess of being permanently banned from Gringotts after busting through their roof with a dragon… He tacked on a note at the end that said, ‘all criminal activities were probably pardoned by the ministry after the war’

He’d ask Professor McGonagall to go through it later and maybe be one of his referees.

I wonder how Draco is doing with his healing apprenticeship applications... he thought, heading up to the dorms to go to sleep.

-

Draco wasn’t actually doing much better than Harry with his applications. He had the grades; he’d been in Hogwarts for 7th year unlike Harry and Ron, he had gone to classes properly and avoided the Carrows as much as possible.

They hadn’t taken their NEWT exams yet but he should get all the grades required for a medical profession. It was more his reputation and his family that were getting in the way.

He’d already sent a few and received stern rejections. The worst one was from St Mungo’s, considering they were the main employment for healers and healing apprenticeships in the UK. Any other apprenticeships would be from stand alone healers who saw his application and accepted him. But no one wanted to even be associated with the Malfoys anymore.

Now he was applying for an apprenticeship in France. At least Mother would be pleased about that. Pansy was helping him in a very unhelpful way.

“Draco, you can’t put, ‘because my boyfriend is a clumsy idiot’ in the why you want this job section.” Pansy scolded.

Draco frowned. “I put my reasoning too.”

Pansy looked at him.

“Your reasoning is, ‘my boyfriend is Harry Potter and I’ve had to help him to the medical wing many times over our 8 years of Hogwarts because he has a hero complex,’” she said.

Draco shrugged. “It’s true. Besides, I put other things on there. I know all of the basic healing spells they teach at Hogwarts and some more advanced ones.”

“...which you learned during the war so that you could survive.” she quoted from his application.

Draco smiled. “Exactly.”

“Can you be anymore specific?” Pansy sighed.

“Not without saying Voldemort lived in my house and my mother taught me because she thought one of the death eaters would try to kill me in my sleep. No.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, but he could see the trauma of the war was still there for her too. “You should get Professor Snape to look over this for you, he knows a lot about healing spells due to his potions mastery! Maybe he can give you some tips on how to sound like you actually want to help people and not just insult them for getting hurt.”

“If they got hurt in a stupid way, they will get insults along with treatment,” Draco huffed, but agreed to meet with Severus.

He went during free period the next day. It was a Monday which meant Sev wasn’t teaching until the afternoon. Standing outside of the potions classroom he took a deep breath. In, and out. Sev would be able to help, surely.

He walked in.

Severus Snape was bent over a cauldron, muttering to himself darkly.

“Professor,” Draco said.

He didn’t look up. “I hope you aren’t here to steal potions ingredients or traumatise me further by discussing your relationship with Potter.”

Draco smiled. “No, just wanted to discuss application forms… this time.”

Severus finally looked at him after stirring his cauldron a few times. He turned the fire down and went over to sit at his desk, leaving the potion bubbling.

“You were looking to become a trainee healer weren’t you?” he asked.

Draco nodded, handing over his application forms. “But i’ve only received rejections so far.”

Severus hummed and looked over his application, his face remained unchanged.

“Hmm.”

Draco shifted nervously.

“You say, ‘I have experiences working with difficult patients.’” Sev looked up at him, “If you mean Harry Potter-”

“He IS a difficult patient! Do you know how much he squirms? It’s like he doesn’t want to be healed!”

Severus rolled his eyes and kept reading. “And ‘some experience with minor healing spells and the healing of physical ailments during the war for some colleagues.’”

He paused. “Colleagues?”

“Death Eaters.”

“Ah.”

Severus sighed quietly, skimming through a few parts and circling others with a red pen.

“It isn’t, a bad application,” he said. “I’ve seen much worse over the years certainly, and perhaps you could change some of it to sound a little better or think of more examples. However, with most of your experiences being ones that will remind people of the war and your part in it…”

“So, it’s basically impossible then, unless I go to some far away country.” Draco bit his lip.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Severus reassured him, “there is a chance of course. I’ll ask Madam Pomfrey, she may know some healers not associated with St Mungos who are looking for an apprentice, or she may know of some other options for you.”

Draco nodded and left feeling worse than when he walked in.

-

Harry too was not having a good application meeting with Professor McGonagall.

He sat in her office, eyes flicking up at her nervously every now and then as she read through his application with a deep frown.

“Well Mr Potter,” she started, “it’s not a bad first try… but if you sincerely wish to apply to the aurors it may need some… tweaking.”

“Yeah…” Harry agreed. Not really sure how exactly he could fix it but...

“When you were asking me about aurors in fifth year you seemed very passionate about the possibility of becoming an auror. But i’m afraid there is just no enthusiasm coming through in your job application,” she said.

“Right… Well, I just wasn’t really sure what to write,” he said. “And I didn’t really want to lead with the whole, defeating Voldemort part…”

“Well, to be honest Mr. Potter, the aurors will probably take you due to your reputation in the war alone, but for the sake of the job application, why do you wish to become an auror?”

“Err… i can’t imagine doing anything different?” he said.

“...Okay.” Headmistress McGonagall crossed her arms. “And is that a good enough reason for you to dedicate your life to this?”

Harry’s mind blanked. “Uhhh……Yes?? No??? No... Right?”

Headmistress McGonagall sighed. “Mr. Potter, I think maybe you should find more enthusiasm for being an auror before you apply for becoming one. Perhaps there are other ministry jobs that you might prefer? I still have job leaflets I normally hand out to the fifth years, if you’d like to peruse them.”

“Er, yeah, I’ll do that thanks.”

He took the leaflets and retreated back to Gryffindor tower wondering what the hell he was supposed to do with his life.

-

The weekdays passed quickly as they went to class and studied in the library. It finally got to Saturday, the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Harry went to the Slytherin common room to find his boyfriend. He felt super down in the dumps.

A Slytherin student let him into the common room almost immediately. They were used to him turning up to see Draco.

“Draco’s in the shower,” said Millicent, peering over a textbook. “You should take a seat, he won’t be finished with his hair for another hour at least.”

Harry smiled as it wasn’t much of an exaggeration. He took a seat around the fire. A few 2nd year students were spread out on the floor studying for end of year exams. Their exams were a week earlier than the N.E.W.Ts, which meant their first exam was in 2 days. It was adorable that they were so worried about failing. He wished he could still take exams that didn’t directly matter for his future.

“You aren’t doing it right,” one of the 2nd years was saying. They were trying to use the engorgement charm on an apple and it wasn’t quite working the way they wanted it to.

“I’m going to flunk charms,” another student whined.

“Engorgio!” one said, flicking their wand at the apple harshly. The apple fell over.

Harry held in a laugh.

“Hey,” he said, getting their attention.

They looked over at him with wide eyes. It was the usual, ‘he’s Harry Potter’ response.

“Try it again, but this time just point your wand at the apple. You don’t need to move it around so much. And really concentrate.”

One of them pointed their wand at the apple. “Engorgio!” they said. The apple grew just a little.

“It worked!”

“Barely.”

“It was better than your try!”

Harry smiled listening to them bicker. They would get better at it with practice. Just like the DA members did with the Defence Against the Dark Arts spells he taught them.

“Potter!” he heard from somewhere up the stairs, and knew Draco was out of the shower.

He stood up to go find him.

“Draaaco,” he whined, flopping onto his boyfriends bed and pouting up at him.

Draco glared down at him as he did his hair. “Stop whining Potter.”

“Why don’t we just stay in bed today?” Harry smirked, getting comfortable on Draco’s many, many blankets and pillows.

“It’s the last time we’ll get to go to Hogsmeade together,” Draco huffed, leaning down to drop a kiss on Harry’s forehead. Much to Harry’s disappointment and further pouts.

“You just want me to buy you things,” Harry huffed, “even though you’re rich enough to buy things yourself.”

Draco smirked and made himself pretty.

They headed out of the dorms. Draco was twirling around happily. Harry smiled, watching him.

Then he missed a step on the stairs and found himself flat on his face.

He heard a loud sigh from his boyfriend.

Harry pulled himself up. “...Don’t say it.”

“You. Are an idiot,” Draco deadpanned. “And your nose is bleeding.”

“...I swear I was more coordinated during the war,” Harry muttered as Draco pulled his face up to have a look.

“How the bloody hell did you fracture your nose just before we got out the castle?” Draco muttered, poking the injury and ignoring Harry’s squirming.

“Don’t poke it, it hurts.” He frowned.

Draco rolled his eyes and dragged him towards the hospital wing.

“Yes, well since it’s you. You’ve probably concussed yourself too and ruined our date. You planned this didn’t you, because you wanted to stay here and make out?”

“Well… more than making out…” Harry muttered.

Draco ignored him and continued towards the hospital wing, then stopped and nudged him in the stomach. “Oh great, it’s Thing 1 and Thing 2.”

Harry looked up at Hermione and Ron walking over to them. Hermione looked slightly disappointed.

“Hey guys,” Harry greeted.

“Did Malfoy break your nose again?” Ron asked, being mostly sarcastic.

“Ha ha, very funny Weasel,” Malfoy sniped back. “Scarhead here decided to fall down the stairs.”

“I didn’t DECIDE to! I just… tripped, a little.” Harry grumbled.

Hermione was shaking her head at him. Harry huffed and crossed his arms. Draco was trying to pull him away from Ron and Hermione… They didn’t really get on very well if they were made to talk to each other for an extended period of time.

Thus Draco invented the 3 and a half minute rule, he would always leave the room after 3 and a half minutes because he couldn’t deal with anymore Weasel or Granger germs.

“Are you two going to Hogsmeade after Madam Pomfrey fixes your nose?” Hermione asked.

Harry nodded and ignored Draco side eyeing him that meant, ‘they are not joining us Potter.’

“Last Hogsmeade weekend of the year so we might as well enjoy ourselves,” he said.

“Yeah, I have to start studying properly after this,” Ron grumbled.

Hermione looked at him disapprovingly. “I hope you’ve started already.”

Ron looked away from his girlfriend and tried to change the subject. “So, what are you guys planning for after we graduate?”

“Sleeping,” Draco said.

“Err, haven’t thought about it,” Harry muttered.

“Well of course, we will all be job hunting and having interviews and extra courses for anything we need to study further!” Hermione began. “After all, we’re adults now, and it’s up to us to make the wizarding world a better place.”

Draco was rolling his eyes and checking his watch to see if it had been more than 3 minutes yet.

Harry smiled, opening the doors to the hospital wing and meeting Madam Pomfrey's already aspirated gaze.

“Mr Potter,” greeted Madam Pomfrey.

“It was an accident,” Harry said immediately.

She raised an eyebrow. “Well let’s have a look then,” she said, pointing her wand at him and casting a small examining spell.

“Idiot fractured his nose,” Draco muttered in the background.

Harry glared at him.

“Indeed he has,” Madam Pomfrey agreed, much to Harry’s chagrin.

He pouted as she waved his wand at him and he felt his nose go from, painful and slightly swollen to normal again. She also handed him some tissues to wipe away the drying blood. “That’s another mark in the Harry Potter tome of injuries,” he thought he heard her mutter as she walked away.

She turned back to them briefly. Harry waited for another snipe about him hurting himself but instead Madam Pomfrey said, “Might I have a word with you Mr Malfoy?”

Draco followed her into their office and Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at each other awkwardly.

“Err, you don’t have to wait around if you don’t want to… we’ll probably be going to Hogsmeade.”

“We can wait for a while,” Hermione replied, “We can leave when Malfoy comes back.”

Ron was staring at the office door. “What was that all about anyway?” he muttered.

Harry hummed. “Draco asked Madam Pomfrey for help in applying for a healing apprenticeship I think,” he replied. “Or at least from what Draco has told me, he asked Sev who asked Madam Pomfrey.”

Ron frowned. “I don’t get this whole, Malfoy wanting to be a healer thing. Like no offence mate, he’s your boyfriend and he isn’t nearly as bad as he used to be, but he’s also… Malfoy.”

Harry hummed. “I understand, when people ask him about it he tries to make it sound like it’s all about healing me. But… I think he actually likes knowing that he can do something to help people, after the war and everything.”

Hermione nodded. “I’m the same, that’s why I want to get into the political system as soon as possible. There are still some laws up that Umbridge made and there is so much that got put to the side during the war that needs to be built back up again. We need trust in the community, we need to fix the media, and almost all departments became slightly corrupted during the war. Everyone is trying to make things how they were before the war…" Her eyes were shining with passion and her cheeks flushed as she continued. "...But, we don’t need them how they were, we need to go forward and make things even better!"

“This is why you’ve already got an interview,” Ron muttered.

Harry gasped. “You’ve got an interview already?”

Hermione smiled proudly. “I do, the week after exams, with the Department of Muggle Cooperation.”

Harry blinked. “Err, congratulations,” he smiled, trying not to show his rising feelings of worry. He hadn’t even sent his applications yet and other people were getting acceptances and rejections…

He hadn’t been to see Professor McGonagall since last week because he still couldn’t think of any job other than an auror… But he also couldn’t think of a reason he was passionate about becoming an auror other than because he’d always fought dark wizards so it seemed right to continue… right? Well. Maybe. McGonagall was right that he was… a little tired, of fighting… maybe.  
  
Draco came back and smiled at him.

"You ready to go to Hogsmeade now or would you rather injure yourself again?" Draco asked.

Harry poked him in the side. "Stop being mean to me just because I sidetracked our date."

Draco rolled his eyes, then pointedly looked at Ron and Hermione.

Hermione looked like she was trying not to laugh. "We’ll see you later Harry, we are also going on a date in Hogsmeade," she said, pulling on Ron’s arm until he followed her in confusion.

Draco glared at the back of their heads until they left, then he sighed heavily. "She offered me an apprenticeship," he muttered.

Harry blinked. "Er, what?"

"Madam Pomfrey," sighed Draco. "She wants me to apprentice under her here at Hogwarts."

Harry’s brain felt like it was fizzling out. Draco was getting apprenticeship offers now? Shit shit shit shit shit.

"Wow, that’s… wow,” he said.

Draco looked uncomfortable.

“Are you, going to do it?” Harry asked.

Draco shrugged and started walking.

Harry frowned and followed. He was happy for Draco, of course he was, like he was happy for Hermione, and these things were a big deal, like, getting a job and stuff. He should do that too…. Right? Right. Just because he’d never really thought about life beyond Hogwarts didn’t mean he couldn’t sent out some applications or start to think about like, jobs.

Draco waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention.

“So, what do you want to do?”

Harry blinked, right. Date. No jobs or applications just him and his boyfriend and everything was good and not crashing and burning.

He smiled. “I don’t know, want to get some lunch first?”

Draco nodded and took his hand, threading their fingers together. “You’re paying for lunch this time, I paid last time.”

Harry nodded, chuckling quietly. “And I thought you only liked me for my looks. I see it was actually my money”

Draco elbowed him in the side. “I like you because you buy me gifts, that’s all.” He smirked.

Harry mock gasped. “I feel used.”

“Get used to it, my payment is keeping you alive while you fall down every set of stairs you see”

“Hey… I don’t hurt myself THAT much, you and Madam Pomfrey exaggerate,”

Draco raised and eyebrow at him. “Potter you’ve been to the hospital wing 13 times this year… and nothing bad has even happened this year.” he said.

“Most of those times were small injuries that I just wanted to make sure healed properly,” Harry said.

“Like when you kicked Sev’s massive black cauldron and broke your toe?”

“I didn’t kick it! I was walking past it and someone nudged me and I kicked it by accident!” Harry defended himself.

“Sev was a mixture of pissed off and actually happy.” Draco mused, smiling cheerfully.

“He was only happy because I was in pain,” Harry pouted.

“Well it was kind of funny, Weasel thought you were being attacked”

Harry rolled his eyes. They had lunch at The Three Broomsticks, then walked around Hogsmeade for a while, settling on a park bench.

Draco sighed and put his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“What’s up love?” Harry asked, wrapping an arm around him.

“Nothing.” Draco said.

“Is it the apprenticeship thing?”

Draco huffed loudly but didn’t say anything.

“Do you not want to take it?” Harry frowned.

“I do… but isn’t it weird? It would mean staying at Hogwarts.”

Harry smiled. “Nothing wrong with Hogwarts!”

Draco sighed. “...Madam Pomfrey taught Sev too.”

Harry laughed. “Really?!?”

“Yeah, as part of his potions mastership she taught him basic healing and about medicines and antidotes.” Draco smiled, cuddling into Harry’s side.

Harry kept grinning. “I can’t imagine that… Snape being taught by Madam Pomfrey… that’s crazy.”

“She is a Slytherin you know.” Draco laughed.

“Now that I can believe.” Harry pouted. "She mocks my pain!"

"She just likes you," Draco said, poking his tongue out childishly. He sighed again. “I guess I’ll take the apprenticeship… it’s not like anywhere else in this country would take me.”

Harry frowned and kissed Draco’s forehead.  
“It’ll be fine, trust me.”

Draco snorted. “The golden boy has spoken.”

Harry laughed and tried to ignore the tightening in his chest. He really needed to look for a job… But what job?

Exam week started for years 1 to 4 and panic started to set in for everyone. Harry tended to study alone because studying with Ron and Hermione made him feel like he knew nothing and Draco just distracted him by being… well, Draco.

He wandered into the Slytherin dorms and spotted Draco talking to Professor Snape in the corner of the room.

He waved and sat on one of the large black sofas by the fire.

Snape kept giving him disdainful looks and Harry grinned at him every time. He liked hanging out in the Slytherin common room. And Snape knew he couldn’t just throw him out without Draco getting involved.

"Hey Harry," greeted Pansy, she sat down next to him and rather ungracefully took up all the space with textbooks and folders.

"Studying?" he asked.

Pansy nodded, her eyes sparkling. "I have motivation to do well now! Madam Malkins got back to me and I have an interview!!"

"Wow! That’s great!" Harry said smiling.

"How are your job applications going?" Pansy asked.

Harry’s smile dropped. "Err, okay, I guess, I mean I’ve been talking to Professor McGonagall kinda"

Pansy tilted her head. "So have you sent an application yet?" she asked.

Harry bit his lip. "Well, not exactly no… It’s just… how did you find out you wanted to work in fashiony stuff?"

Pansy hummed. "I didn’t really realise it, it just seemed right you know? I’ve always played around with magic and clothing and I enjoy it."

"Right," said Harry. "So I should always be an auror because I’ve always done it and… Err."

"Potter, you may have always fought bad guys but do you enjoy it? ‘Cause you know you don’t have to keep doing it. There are other aurors who can." Pansy said.

Harry felt even worse. "Yeah but, I dunno what other jobs I can do, and everyone else is getting interviews and second interviews and apprenticeships and even Ron has sent his application now and I’m just here like I don’t really know what I’m doing and what if I never get a job and-"

"Potter breathe," Pansy said.

Harry breathed and sighed. "Sorry," he muttered.

"You don’t need to work out everything before school ends you know."

"Yeah but…"

Pansy smiled reassuringly. "Don’t worry too much, I know a lot of students who haven’t started looking for jobs yet."

"Well yeah but, most know what they want to do, right?" Harry said.

"Well, even if they do they might change their mind later."

Harry nodded and hummed. "I forget how young I am sometimes."

Pansy laughed. "Because your life has been so hectic! Maybe take it easy for a while."

Harry nodded. A few students were sat around studying. The second years he’d seen the other week practicing charms were currently trying to turn a matchstick into a needle.

He watched them for a while, then one of him saw him and waved him over.

Pansy raised an eyebrow at him but Harry just shrugged and went over to them.

"What are you doing?" he asked politely.

"How do you make the matchstick pointier?" a girl asked.

"Yeah, you helped us with charms, can you teach us to do transfiguration too?!"

Harry laughed. "Sure, sure. So, picture a needle in your mind, and when you say the spell you need to picture a matchstick turning into a needle and you need practice."

"Ughh," groaned one of them.

One pulled out a needle and stared at it intently. "I will master you," he muttered.

Harry laughed quietly. "Keep practicing," he said.  
  
"Thanks Professor," said the girl.

He sat back down next to Pansy who had a shit eating grin.

"Professor Potter," she teased.

Harry flushed. "Well, y’know teaching is fun," he said.

"So…"

"So? What?"

Pansy facepalmed. "Why not become a teacher Potter? Or at least look into it."

Harry’s eyes widened. "That’s a thing!!!" he stated loudly.

Pansy rolled her eyes.

Harry sat there for a few minutes, because like, a teacher? Well, he could teach at Hogwarts or be a home tutor, surely he had the grades? Ooo, he could teach little purebloods how to not grow up to become dicks.

He bit his lip. "Uhh, I’m gonna go talk to Professor McGonagall," he said.

Pansy waved at him as he left.

-  
-

“Well those exams were nowhere near as bad as our O.W.Ls or N.E.W.Ts,” Draco said.

“Well, when you aren’t trying to escape people trying to kill you or repair magical objects at the same time I guess it becomes a lot less stressful.” Harry replied.

Draco smiled slightly. “Well, I’m going to meet Madam Pomfrey about this offer she made. I’ll see you later?”

“Definitely,” Harry grinned, watching his boyfriend leave.

He had been asked to meet with McGonagall anyway, so he went to her office.

She smiled as he walked through the door.

“Mr. Potter, I’m glad you’re here, have you thought on the job offer I made you?” She asked.

Harry smiled widely. “I accept!”

-  
-

Epilogue.

Harry drummed his fingers on his desk nervously. First day! First class! He was equally excited and terrified. He’d stayed up late going through his lesson plans and asking Professor McGonagall and Draco for advice. Draco’s advice was less than helpful, considering it mostly came down to ‘tell them you killed Voldie.’ He even asked Professor Snape who just told him not to die. By Snape standards that was really nice.

The class filed in looking worried. They were only first years after all. A few stared at him in awe and Harry tried not to shift in his seat.

He glanced at the clock and waited for a few stragglers to find their seats.

"Well class," he began, "welcome to Hogwarts and your first Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons." He smiled, feeling a little more confident. "In this class you will learn a lot about magic, and how to defend yourself. We’ll also learn some offensive spells but not until you all have a good grasp on magical theory"

He looked around the room and tried not to waver under a few students awe inspired gazes.

"Are there any questions?" he asked, trying to sound less nervous than he was.

He pointed to a student that raised their hand.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" The boy asked.

"Yes," Harry replied, "I am."

A few students started muttering amongst themselves.

Harry coughed nervously. "So, can anyone tell me why we need Defence classes in school?"

A girl raised their hand. "In case you get attacked!"

Harry nodded. "That’s one reason yes, so that you can all defend yourselves should you need to. So, to start with, could you all turn to page 4 in your books and we’ll look at some non magical defence theory."

There was some rustling as students pulled books out.

"So first, we’ll talk about defence in the muggle sense, although we won’t try any in the classroom I believe some older students have started a muggle combat club and they hope other students will understand the need for non-magical defence too."

A student raised their hand. "Why should we learn non-magical defence?" they said. "We can defend with magic way better than without!"

Harry perched on his desk and crossed his arms. "And what if you don’t have your wand?" he asked.

The students eyes widened.

"Should the situation arise that you have been disarmed, or cannot safely use magic, the school believes that you should still be able to defend yourself." He said.

A girl raised her hand and grinned. "I like muggle defence," she said. "I think it can be just as effective as magic."

He saw a few students looking skeptical.

"Perhaps we could have a demonstration," Harry said quietly, noticing a few students perk up at the idea.

The same girl raised her hand. "Can I demonstrate?!" she asked, "I do Judo back at home!"

Harry blinked. "Uh, sure yeah."

She came up to the front smiling and Harry admired her confidence.

"Okay," he said. "So… if someone was going to attack you, what would you do?" he asked curiously.

"I’d block them!" she said.

A boy raised his hand. "Show us!" he said.

The other students agreed.

Harry bit his lip nervously. He didn’t want students fighting each other, especially first years in their first class, but if she showed them some muggle defence moves it could inspire them a little. Maybe he could just act as the sparring dummy.

"Okay, so, if I were attacking, without magic in this case and I were to throw a punch?"

He moved his fist slowly, not really wanting to do damage. They could learn properly later.

The girl blocked his fist.

"See, and then you would be free to counter attack-"

He didn’t expect the girl to headbutt him. Or the fact that with the girls height a headbutt was the exact height of his groin.

He collapsed with an "oof" and the class applauded.

"And then I win because I’m the best!" the girl said.

Harry coughed, still keeled over in pain.

"Yes," he wheezed out. "See class, it’s very effective."

The girl took her seat and Harry stood up shakily. "Er, and with that, class is over for today," he said. "Make sure you go over the first chapter of your books ready for next lesson."

He half limped out of the room and tried not to show the fact that he felt like he was going to throw up and was basically hobbling as he got to the door.

The students were congratulating the girl.

"Josie you just defeated Harry Potter the greatest wizard ever!"

"You’re amazing! Can you teach me?"

"I know I am, maybe now I’ll get my own book series," was the smug reply.

Harry poked his head into the hospital wing.  
Draco was adorable in medic robes!

"Hi hunny!" he said cheerily. Then immediately moved over to a bed so he could collapse.

"Potter, how the actual fuck have you hurt yourself on the first day of school?" Draco said glaring at him.

"Wasn’t me," Harry said sulkily. "I got headbutted in the groin…. stop laughing it was a good lesson to the class."

Draco was snickering at him. "The great Harry Potter taken down by an eleven year old on his first day of teaching. I can see the headlines now."

Harry pouted. "Be nice to your patients."

"Professor Potter, must you darken our doorstep every day with your injuries? What will the students think?" said Madam Pomfrey, throwing a spell at him and turning away as though he were trash.

The pain subsided immediately but he pouted even more when Draco continued snickering.

"How is Hogwarts going to survive?" Harry grumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> I procrastinate writing fanfiction by writing other, new fanfiction. I'm Peak Levels of Ravenclaw over here.


End file.
